The coffee problems: The impact of tax imposition on coffee across social classes in the Philippines

Abstract

This paper examined the impact of tax imposition on coffee among the different socioeconomic classes in the Philippines. This study employed the use of Ordinary Least squares (OLS) method to develop an estimator for the impact of the said imposition. The results show that even if lower socioeconomic classes have less amounts expended on their coffee consumption, its allocation over their total household expenditures is greater compared to the upper income Filipino classes. Consequently, it is the poor who shall mostly incur the burden of additional taxes when the latter is imposed by the legislative branch of the government.